Two 'droids One Girl
by LiteraturePROCESSING
Summary: Elaina didn't own an android. She didn't want one, couldn't afford one. Then one day, she runs into the escaped Tracis from the Eden Club... and she makes what is probably the most irrational decision of her life- she helps them. Which, of course, drags her into the world of technology, android rights and the revolution. It takes her and the androids to Jericho.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! Welcome to ****_Two 'droids One Girl_****... uh buckle up ya'll it gonna be intense soon**

**Please note that for the sake of the story, I have stretched out the canon timeline in order to allow friendships/relationships/characters etc more time to develop, which just means there'll be more time in between the major events. Thanks!**

_They were going to die. Traci was sure of that. Whatever chance of survival they had before as they hid together in the club's storage room, that number had surely plummeted down to zero- the 'Deviant Hunter' had found them, but really, what chance did they have of going undiscovered? The RK800, as his jacket displayed for the world to see, had the most advanced system the world had ever seen. Fighting, analyzing, interrogation- whatever anybody could think of, Cyberlife had probably programmed it into the thing. Besides, she'd killed a human. There was no going back, no way to avoid the club calling in Cyberlife or the Detroit Police force. There was an older human with the detective android as well. The Tracis knew humans, what they felt, what they do, how they felt- androids were just tools to be thrown out when they become defective, and they were sure this one was no different. _

_No matter how sure they were of their impending death, the irrational fear of death they'd both had since they broke free from their programming wouldn't let them go down without trying to escape, and to both deviant android's surprise, they (somehow) weren't dead yet. The fight had moved into the outdoors, into the rain. The tall fence that blocked them from the outside world, from freedom, was right there… if only they could get the RK800 away from them long enough to climb over it._

_The two of them pushed RK800 into the wall, hoping to pin him down from there, but the android didn't let them, knocking the brown-haired Traci back and he pinned the blue-haired Traci on the ground soon after. The one he'd knocked back saw her lover defenseless under the machine and attempted to unbalance him with a trashcan, but this didn't phase him as he simply rolled back with the momentum. There was a gun on the ground and the brown-haired Traci ran forwards, hoping desperately that she'd manage to kick, punch, just manage to do something before a bullet left the weapon. She was too late, as she saw RK800 aim the thing right at her. If he shot, she'd die._

_But he didn't._

_That he didn't do so was a shock to both of the Tracis, even as brown-haired Traci took the opportunity to take their pursuer down with a kick to the head. The blue-haired Traci moved in front as the other moved back._

"_When that man… broke the other Traci…" the blue-haired one began to speak, "I knew I was next." Both their LEDs were a solid yellow, flickering red for half a second occasionally before going back. RK800 stood before them, not moving. His LED had gone yellow as well._

"_I was so scared," blue-haired Traci said, her voice shaking a little. "I begged him to stop, but he wouldn't. And so I put my hands around his throat, and I squeezed… until he stopped moving." Her voice held regret and desperation as she continued. "I didn't mean to kill him," she declared firmly, her lover moving up beside her to hold hands, the feeling giving them a little reassurance. "I just wanted to stay alive… get back to the one I love. I wanted her to hold me in her arms again..." the human that was with RK800 before finally reappeared, who walked up beside the prototype. "... make me forget about the humans… their smell of sweat, and their dirty words."_

_The brown-haired Traci finally spoke again. "Come on," she said. "Let's go." They both cast a final look towards the human/android duo before turning their backs on them, running back to the fence. Their heeled shoes poked through the holes in the patterned wire as their arms pulled them up, until they were at the top, dropping down on the other side. As they finally ran out through the alleyway, their hands found each other again. They were just as relieved as they were surprised- they had gotten away. No, not that they'd gotten away- that the RK800, the deviant hunter himself had let them._

* * *

Elaina wasn't a big fan of having a 'girls night out' in the city. She was fine with going out with her friends in the middle of the day, maybe having some ice cream in the park in the Summer, hot chocolate in a random cafe in the afternoon during Winter, going to the movies, maybe meandering around a mall for an hour or two (not that going overboard with clothes shopping was her thing)... but it was nearly Winter, it was nearly 8 in the evening, and her friends had insisted on taking her out the entire evening. It was fine in the afternoon, though the part that annoyed her was the concert they'd dragged her to of a pop star that Elaina barely knew. She recognised maybe one or two of the songs, but really, she couldn't care less. But, to her great relief, it had barely lasted an hour and a half, and now they were walking back through town. The roads surrounding the stadium were filled with cars and automatic taxis, though, so they'd decided to hail one of the automatic things further away, where they wouldn't be stuck for who knows how long while the traffic un-clogged itself.

"You sure you don't want to join us heading back?" One of her friends, Sophie asked. One of her most noticeable features was the bright red she'd dyed the bottom half of her hair with- though there was a slight gradient.

"Sophie, you've asked me that four times already. Why do you never take someone's word for it until you've asked at least three times?" Elaina replied, a little exasperated at the friend she'd had since primary school.

"People change their minds," Sophie shot back as they all stopped on the sidewalk, "You never know. Hey Brooke, Sarah, who's gonna pay the taxi bill? Three, two, one-" they all exclaimed 'bagsnot!' loudly, placing their thumbs on their foreheads as fast as their minds could process. "Elaina, you're the judge!"

Said girl looked at her three friends- Sophie, with her natural black and dyed red hair and blue eyes, Brooke, her blonde/brown hair and her green eyes (they were contact lenses though) and Sarah, her red hair (which was natural, unlike Sophie's red), blue eyes and white glasses frame. All three looked at Elaina expectantly. "Errr…" She started, "... sorry girl… but Sarah, you're gonna be some dollars poorer by the time you get home."

Sarah frowned a little as her jaw dropped open, though her mouth still stretched into a smile. "Oh come on, you three!"

Brooke laughed, which set off Sophie and Elaina as well. After a few seconds, Sarah relented and chuckled a little too.

Sophie transferred the two shopping bags in her right hand to her left as she reached into the pocket of her jumper for her phone. "You want a ride, you're going to have to pay up! Unless, of course, you want to just walk home?"

Sarah laughed again as Sophie used her phone to hail an autonomous taxi. "No way! It's in the direction you guys have to go in too, dammit! I can't be bothered to walk today."

Within the minute, one of the small little cabs pulled up into the nearest available parking spot, the door facing the pavement opening to let them in.

"Alright, Elaina, you sure you don't want a ride?" Sophie asked one last time, getting into the taxi herself.

"Goddammit, Sophie!" Elaina cried, though she was smiling a little. "For the last, time, I'm good! Besides, my apartment is all the way over there," she pointed behind her, "And you guys live in every direction except that one! Unlike you lazy butts," she added as Brooke got in after Sarah, "I can walk."

"Your loss," Sophie said dismissively, tapping in the locations the taxi was to stop at into the panel in the front. The taxi began to close its doors. The four friends waved goodbye as the darkened windows blocked Sophie, Sarah and Brooke from Elaina's view. The wheels carried them away, it turned the corner, and she was on her own.

Spinning on her heel, Elaina made her way down the street. Her apartment building was a bit of a walk from her location, but she'd gone further distances. There were still quite a few people around, so she also felt pretty safe from any criminals in the area, but she didn't ignore her surroundings completely. She had a small shopping bag of new jackets and a few spare pants and shirts since some of her current ones were getting a bit worse for wear.

_Step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step..._ somewhere along the way it began to rain, so she got out her mini umbrella and opened it up, continuing on her way.

Soon enough, she was just under ten minutes away from her apartment. She could see the bright, glaring signs of the _Eden Club_ up ahead. As there was only one other person around, she didn't bother to suppress a shiver of disgust. She'd seen the kind of perverted men and women that went into that place, and the lingering expression of pleasure on some of their faces as she walked by on her way to and from the convenience stores nearby. As much as she was glad they had something to satisfy their sexual desires instead of using people unfortunate enough to cross their path when nobody was nearby, the fact they were using androids that looked so human-like bothered her. The fact they had no consciousness of their own, that they weren't allowed to give any consent was weird as well. And now that there were these 'deviancy issues' appearing on the news with growing consistency and how Cyberlife was shutting them down to analyze them, searching for what went 'wrong', Elaina couldn't help but wonder if there were in fact androids that were deviant trapped in there, letting themselves be used for fear of dying? If these supposed feelings and emotions that deviancy gave them was in fact genuine?

There was holographic police tape outside the door to the club with an officer standing guard, which surprised Elaina. Nobody really did anything in there that involved other humans, they just pleasured themselves using the androids and got the fuck out of there. So either that changed or… or had what she'd been thinking about actually happened? Either way, she didn't want to stick around to try and find out. She lengthened her stride, hoping to get past as quickly and as soon as possible. She passed the entrance and turned the corner.

_Step, step, step, step, step._

She kept her eyes straight in front of her.

_Step, step, step_ step _step,_ _step_step step step, _step_stepstep_step_-

Elaina looked to the side in alarm. She was right beside an alleyway that she assumed would take her to a back door of the Eden Club, and someone was apparently coming right for her. Was it the reason the police were there? There were two sets of the footsteps, and before she could get out of the way, something barreled into her.

Elaina lost her grip on the shopping bag and the umbrella. They both lay uselessly the ground as she fell onto the side of the road. Panicking, she stood up as fast as she could, back on the sidewalk before she heard a female voice say, "_Don't move!" _Elaina froze, her head snapping up to face whoever had spoken- and came face to face with two scared androids. One had short, brown hair, the other had blue hair that was just long enough to be tied back in a low ponytail. They were holding hands, had 'perfect' bodies and were very scantily clad- clearly intended to look sexy and enticing, and she didn't have to look for more than three seconds to find why. On the bottom of both android's bras had the words _Eden Club_ on them, lit up brightly so it was very easy to see, even in the darkness of the newly born night.

Elaina quickly raised her hands in the classic surrender position, looking around the street quickly. This was a side-street, and there were just a few houses- most run down or abandoned, as was the case with the ones nearby. Elaina and the two androids were the only things there.

"Don't!" The brown-haired one exclaimed. "Don't- don't do anything. Please, don't do anything."

Elaina raised her hands a little higher. "Don't freak out, I'm not going to. I swear." The androids looked skeptical, so she continued with, "My phone is in the right pocket of my jacket. Take it so you know I can't do anything, call the police, anything." The brown-haired android cautiously reached into the pocket Elaina had told them about. Finding the phone she'd said would be in there, the android quickly stepped back, phone in hand. For a moment, Elaina wondered if the police officer that she had walked past earlier would hear if she ended up yelling for help, but she didn't think she was close enough anymore. Maybe something else, but definitely not her voice.

The android's LEDs, which had been red, flickered a little before eventually settling on yellow. "You… you listened to us?" The one that had taken her phone murmured, surprised The ready-to-fight posture and vicious demeanor both androids had softened a little.

Elaina frowned, hands still in the surrender position. "Yes?"

"That's new," brown-hair said, glancing at the alleyway they'd just come from. Elaina looked too, suddenly understanding, her thoughts going back to the direction they'd went when she'd seen the holographic police tape. They'd never been in control in that shithole, right? So... even when their opponent was outnumbered, being in a position of power was… probably weird.

Which finally snapped her mind to something else. Elaina looked at both of the androids. They looked nervous. Their robot limbs wouldn't stay still, the both of them shifting side to side- they looked like they wanted to run away, but for some reason, they weren't. Both faces looked worried, too, and determined- their eyes kept flickering to the corner Elaina had walked around earlier, their artificial lips pulled into a tight line, both of them with their eyebrows tilted on an angle. Then, she thought of the androids that she usually saw. Faces blank, eyes hollow and creepy, as if there should be… something there, but there wasn't. Programmed to smile at the right time, to obey humans and follow them right on their heel, ready to do anything their masters desired. These two certainly weren't like that. That was plainly visible since the fact that they had obviously escaped the place they weren't allowed to leave. They had been the ones to order Elaina, a human, to do something, which an android's programming told them to never do. Ever.

"You two are deviants, aren't you?" Elaina asked. The brown-haired Traci clenched their fists and stepped back the tiniest bit, like they were getting ready to run, as the blue-haired one flinched a little, also looking like they were poised to set off running. That was all Elaina needed for an answer. _They look so human…_ she couldn't help thinking. _And not just the way Cyberlife designs them all to be, they really do look alive… like the opposite of that shit Chloe announced for the world to hear. _

Before either party could do anything, a vehicle started up somewhere nearby. All three looked around. The androids, obviously, realised what it was before Elaina, but she wasn't far behind; the only intersection ahead was at the end of the road, and that was too far away to hear anything- no cars had started up along the road, and nobody had been walking along the street the entire time the android/human encounter had been happening. There was only one place the sound could have come from- outside the Eden club, and the only cars parked there had been the police car and another car that had to have been an undercover one- up close when it wasn't moving, the lights were easy to see, even when they weren't on.

"It's the police!" The blue-haired Traci hissed, starting to panic. They could go back in the alley, but they didn't know if the RK800 and the human were still there analysing evidence and shit, since they'd barely escaped- but even if they started to run away, if the car drove down the street the brightly lit Eden Club on their bras and their LED would be incredibly obvious, and the car lights would reveal them to be the (now missing) Tracis.

Elaina looked at them, then at the corner, where a shadow that had been there previously was now missing. A car had turned on its lights. Looking back at the (now terrified looking) androids one last time, Elaina made a decision. It was probably a fucking stupid decision, but she wasn't going to risk having the androids caught. She dropped her hands (which had still been raised) as she grabbed the shopping bag that she'd dropped earlier. Ignoring the mixture of tiredness and pain in her arms, she dug around inside, dragging out the first two pants and jackets she could manage to grab- a regular pair of dark blue jeans, dark green pants that didn't have enough material to cling to someone's legs- they just hung down limply, and had reached Elaina's ankle when she'd tried them on- then there was a green pull-over hoodie that was ever so slightly on the darker side and a plain black zip-up jacket.

"Quick!" Elaina exclaimed, throwing the clothes in the direction as they all heard another car engine come to life. "Put them on, just in case!" The Tracis, even in their surprise and plain shock at Elaina helping them, didn't waste any time in concealing their Eden Club issued clothing. Brown-hair zipped up the jacket while blue pulled the hoodie over her head. Brown managed to get into the dark green pants easily since the leg holes were wide enough, but Blue had to get her heels off before finally managing to get the jeans over her 'hips'. Elaina grabbed the shopping bag (which was noticeably lighter) and her umbrella. There was quite a bit of rain on the underside, but she held it above the three of them, making sure to tilt it down a little in order to try and hide the android's LEDs if one of the cars did indeed head their way.

The first car didn't turn. Something Elaina did notice, however, was the LED that was on the figure seated on the right. The next car, however, the one she'd passed that had DETROIT POLICE on the sides for all to see, did turn down the road they were on the sidewalk of about ten seconds later. Elaina shifted as she tilted the umbrella further, hoping that the police officer wouldn't do anything. _Keep driving, keep driving, keep driving…_

The two androids held hands again, squeezing each others hands tightly. One look at their faces and Elaina could see plain terror, terror that they'd get caught, terror that they'd die- they were thinking the same thing as her.

_Keep driving, keep driving…_

They were in plain view as the car's headlights lit up the path ahead, including the human/android trio.

_Keep driving- _

The car didn't stop, and it drove right past.

"Holy shit," Elaina whispered. That might have just been the longest five seconds of her life. Not just that, but she might have just made the most irrational decision of her life. _Well, fuck everything, I guess_, Elaina thought. She could see the 'eyes' of the androids both pairs openly displaying their surprise and overpowering relief and hope. Elaina thought back to the empty eyes of the other androids, absent of something they needed. It was then Elaina realised it was the lack of emotion that made their eyes so hollow, and it was also then that any lingering doubt about the honesty of them having those emotions in the first place disappeared. Androids really were something else, huh…

Through the darkness, Elaina noticed an autonomous taxi further down the street. Even though it was probably unlikely to be occupied, she still hoped like hell that it wasn't as she shut the mini-umbrella and shoved it, still wet, into her bag of new clothes. She grabbed the phone that the brown-haired android somehow hadn't dropped and shoved it carelessly into her pocket before she started forwards, waving for the two of them to follow her. After a moment's hesitation, they started to run after her as Elaina sprinted for the taxi like there was no tomorrow, easily keeping up. The girl hadn't gone screaming for help as soon as she saw them, she'd helped them go unnoticed by the police car when she could have easily given them up because she was scared of what they might do, and she was a possible source of help for the two of them. They were, in some ways, like children- experiencing the world for the first time- if children can experience their first taste of the outside world as runaway 'criminals', desperate to start their own life and not one dictated by masters. The girl wasn't acting like she wanted to control them. Besides, if this was an opportunity to begin that kind of journey, they sure weren't going to pass it up.

Upon reaching the vehicle, the three of them saw the _HELLO! I AM CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. PLEASE TOUCH THE CIRCLE TO BEGIN_ on the windows. "Oh thank fuck!" Elaina exclaimed, practically slapping the circle in her haste. The automatic doors slid open, and all three beings, human and android, jumped in.

"_Hello! Thank you for choosing to travel with Detroit Taxis. Please enter the address of your desired destination into the screen at the front to begin your journey."_ Elaina ignored the pre-recorded female voice, typing the address for her apartment into the screen at a speed she'd never reached without making mistakes before. She pressed the _Enter- Begin Traveling_ button much harder than necessary, and finally, the doors slid shut, hiding them all from the outside world. The wheels began turning, and at long last, the Tracis were being taken away from the source of all their horrors by a human might actually _care_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys! Welcome back to _Two 'droids One Girl_! If you read the first chapter and came back for more can I just spam you with love and thank yous okay**

**Please remember that I have stretched out the canon timeline in order to allow things to develop at a nice and relaxed pace instead of rushed. It won't effect anything long term but there'll just be more time between the canon events.**

* * *

_What the fuck. What the actual fuck. Both the Tracis weren't sure what to think. Humans were cold and selfish creatures. They used androids for their own desires. They forced blue-hair and brown-hair away from each other constantly for pleasure (the customers) and profit (the manager of Eden Club itself). They wouldn't let them be free. If they ever revealed to anybody that the two of them could really love, that they loved each other, that that were ALIVE and _didn't want to be used _**we're dirty we're nothing we're stained just toys designed for human pleasure HELP US**__\- they'd be taken away, shut down and analysed. They'd never come back online. They'd never see each other again. They'd _die, _they didn't want to die! No human would ever help an android, no human would ever help them… right? Or is that just biased, an opinion formed based on the humans full of sexual desire that used them every day, the only humans they ever saw? One way or another, their entire world had just spun on its head- they had gotten away. The _RK800 _and his human partner had actually let them leave, and to add to their confusion, they just had to run across this girl that took their beliefs and made them… not entirely believable anymore._

_They were free, they were running away, holy shit they were actually outside the club, there's the opening, the end of the alley, there's the road- blue-hair had crashed into something- wait no, that was some_one_! Shit, great rA9 please, please no… not when we've just escaped! We're not slaves anymore, please don't have us die. They held hands tightly as the human- a female- fell over onto the side of the road, their bag and umbrella falling onto the sidewalk, but they got up fast, really fast, back onto the sidewalk, sweet rA9 she was going to get them killed._

"_Don't move!"_

_The girl looked up, and they could see her eyes looking them over. The _Eden Club _on their bras, the red LEDs on both their right temples. The human looked around. _Traci, she's going to go running for help-

"_Don't!" The brown-haired Traci exclaimed, cutting off blue-hair's voice in their cybernetic link. "Don't- don't do anything. Please, don't do anything."_

_The girl raised her hands into the air (a quick search of their human body-language files told them that this was a classic surrender position). She told them not the freak out, that she wasn't going to do anything. She told them to take her phone out of her pocket so she couldn't call anyone or anything. Was she really going to let them tell them not to do anything? She must know they're defective. Brown-hair, albeit incredibly nervous, braves herself and snatches the phone out of her pocket. The girl told the truth. She hadn't done anything against them- she'd listened to them. Holy shit, she'd _listened to them_. A human, told what to do by androids? Unheard of. "You listened to us?"_

"_... yes?" A frown. Both androids stress levels dropped without them realising it. 74% right down to 57%. Better. Yellow LEDs. That was better. What were they doing? Why were they still there? Why hadn't they set off down the street? Their eyes began to look around a little, nervous glances anywhere that they could see. They scanned the houses nearby. Ruins, nobody in them. Why was this… why was this happening?_

"_You two are deviants, aren't you?"_

_One question sent their stress levels into the high 60's. Their LEDs threatened to turn red again. _SHIT. SHIT, she knows, she knows. She knows we're defective. She's going to run. She's going to tell. Run. We need to run. We should have already ran, Traci! I don't want to die, I don't want you to die!

_An engine starts up. A light turns on. For a street that mainly has houses in states of disrepair, their databases told them it was one many used. They might turn. Where now? They can't risk giving the _RK800 _another chance to choose to shoot. They can't risk-_

_The girl drops her hands. SHE'S GOING TO TELL THE-_

_Instead of running off, she drops to her hands and knees in front of the shopping bag, throwing clothes at them. _'Put them on', _she tells them, just in case. However surprised, they follow her instructions, putting on the clothes as fast as their processors will let them. She picks up a rather wet mini-umbrella. _An umbrella- she's going to use an umbrella to hide our LEDs?

At least there's a way to hide them, Traci.

_One car turns. The other doesn't. The car that does doesn't notice them. Holy shit. The probability of it stopping was already low, but they still didn't expect to go unexpected. The girl finally runs, but instead of doing so in terror, she motions for the two Tracis to follow her, and for some reason, in hopes of a source of help, they do. She leads them to an automatic taxi. It's unoccupied, and the girl ushers them inside. Some violent tappings of buttons later, and the autonomous vehicle starts to move._

… _what the fuck._

* * *

Even after thinking over what she'd just done about four times within two minutes, Elaina still doesn't know what the actual _fuck_ she'd just done. She'd just decided that the Cyberlife staff that claimed that androids were emotionless, mechanical and mindless things with no free will that will do whatever you want, whenever you want were just fountains sprouting shit in the form of words. So… everyone. If they found out, they'd probably find a way to make sure that she would go to jail over this. Probably. Cyberlife didn't like being opposed, did they?

Her thoughts drifted to Sophie, Brooke and Sarah. They had probably dropped Brooke off home already, since her house was closest… Sophie would probably be off next unless Sarah had already paid the bill on the go, like she had…

Elaina turned her head to look at the two androids behind her, to find that they were both staring directly at her. With an internal sigh, she reached down and presses the button on the side of her seat that has her swivel around to face the back. The two Tracis look at her with a hesitant yet somewhat expectant look. They had a right to expect an explanation on why the hell she'd helped. The problem was trying to explain it to herself at the same time, really.

'_No soul' my ass,_ Elaina thought firmly as she opened her mouth. "You're probably wondering why I'm doing this."

Both androids nodded, while the blue-haired one said, "You bet we are."

"Thought so," Elaina noted. "Lets be honest right off the bat- I didn't think I was going to do this either, but here we are- I've decided everyone at Cyberlife saying 'androids are emotionless and without souls or conscious thought' are sacks of shit stuffing even more shit into their mouths to spray it into the beliefs of every man, woman and child on this planet."

"Fuck, that's actually a pretty good way of portraying them," the brown-haired android said.

"I agree," blue-hair said with a nod.

Elaina smiled. "Thanks." There was a pause in speech as the autonomous taxi slowed a little as the pedestrian crossing ahead of them turned green to allow pedestrians to cross. "My name's Elaina, by the way. I guess… I guess you should know that?" She paused again for a slight moment. "Look, I guess I should tell you before we arrive-" she stopped as both androids tensed a little, likely fearing the worst on instinct.

"Chill out, you two! We're all heading back to my apartment." The androids relaxed. "Okay. After about… ten until about six in the morning, the doors to the apartment building are locked so only residents can get in or out, but we won't have to worry about that. There's a bit of a lobby where we're going to have to walk in. Kids like to hang out down there, the delivery androids usually have clients pick their food up there… when we walk in, there'll probably be a couple older children and some teens in the lobby, maybe a couple adults here and there supervising their kids or collecting their takeaway orders. All we have to do is act completely natural. You _can't_ freak out, if anyone comes over you need to just say _hi_ and not run off, if anyone ends up in the lift with us we'll stand on the side so you hide your LEDs. There aren't any mirrors in it. The entrance doors are pretty far on the right of the lobby as it goes anyway, so there shouldn't be a need to hug the wall. Um… it probably all sounds harder than it looks but it's literally just walking and using angles to hide-" she points to the LEDs on their temples "- those. Hopefully."

As she was speaking, the taxi had slowed down and parked in a designated taxi parking spot directly in front of the building, and the automatic doors slid open. "_You have arrived at your destination. Thank you for traveling with Detroit Taxis. We hope to see you again soon." _

Elaina waited for the pre-recorded message to finish before checking with the two android-girls. "You got that?" When she got two nods of confirmation, she said, "Alright then- let's go."

The three of them stepped out of the autonomous taxi. After a few moments, the doors slid shut and the little cab took off down the street. Elaina took the lead, walking at what she hoped was a 'normal' pace to the entrance. Through the window, she could see what she'd warned the androids about- children running about in the lobby, teens hanging about, delivery androids standing stone-still with deliveries in their hands. A small amount of the adults and teenagers were occasionally shooting the androids dirty looks and glares, which made the two Tracis following her tense a little. "Be calm, remember, and nobody will suspect a thing," Elaina muttered quietly as she pushed open the door. She stepped into the lobby, and so did the two androids. The door calmly swung shut behind them as the newly formed trio made their way to the elevator. As the human girl had said, the entrance to the lobby was pretty far to the right of the room- it was also then that the androids discovered, to their relief, that one of the two elevators was on the right as well. Said androids stood near or leaned on the wall as Elaina pushed a button to call the elevator. Half a minute of tense waiting later, the elevator doors opened. A woman who looked to be in her mid 30's and a man around the same age left the elevator, holding hands. They were both dressed up nicely and the woman had makeup on, which made them all assume they were off on a date. The other occupant of the elevator was an android- a PL600, in the default uniform with no visual customizations. It headed straight for one of the delivery androids- probably picking up something for its 'master'. With the elevator empty, all three of them hurried inside. Elaina pressed the button for her floor (it was only on level two, including the lobby). Ten long seconds later, the doors slid shut and the elevator made its short ascent.

_Ding!_

The doors slid open. Elaina's apartment wasn't too far from the elevator. Three apartment doors, a corner (you could go either way but there was only one door on the right- hers was to the left), a janitor closet, one more apartment and then her own. As they made the short trip, they were relieved to find nobody in the halls. They could hear some people talking further up, but nobody bothered them as Elaina took out her room key and unlocked the door to _Room Six_, as the sign on her door said. She pushed it open. The three of them stepped inside, Elaina quickly shutting the door.

"We did it…" Elaina murmured. "We actually did it!"

"We made it…" one of the Tracis murmured. Elaina wasn't facing them though, so she couldn't tell which one had spoken.

After a moment, Elaina turned around. Her apartment wasn't necessarily something you could say belonged to a clean freak, but it certainly wasn't like a dump truck either. The kitchen was clean. There was a bench that had enough workspace for her to come with, a microwave, an oven, a dishwasher that she'd managed to find a cheap deal on (it was released a decade ago, which was probably why). Her wood dining table (that she'd managed to fit four chairs around for when Sophie, Brooke and Sarah came over) was also clean, all the chairs pushed in neatly. The lounge had a black couch with some nice cushions… a couple chairs… there was her laptop, an iPad and the TV. Admittedly the TV was a bit dusty since she couldn't be bothered to clean it, though she didn't watch it too often. There was a small hallway that had two doors. One lead into her bathroom (a rather plain one- grey tiles, a toilet, a sink, some cupboards, and a shower), and the other into her bedroom. Admittedly she didn't like spending much time in bed (she didn't often really feel tired, or the need to sleep- something others often used to joke about her being an 'android in disguise'), although she did try to keep a consistent sleeping schedule on the insistence of others. She had a black and white wolf on her duvet cover, something she'd had since she was eleven. She'd never really had an eye for fashion or decor, so she couldn't be bothered trying to change it. Cream coloured sheets and pillowcases- she had her drawer of clothes beside her bed so the top could double as her bedside table. There was a desk opposite the bed running along most of the wall- when she wasn't in the lounge she'd usually be there drawing or writing. A bit of clutter here and there, some books and clothes she needed to give away, some dust, some rubbish that missed the trashcans that she couldn't be bothered to deal about before the rubbish collection date. No matter the imperfections- it felt homely and welcoming. She had pictures and artworks on the walls (a few were her own, the ones she felt proud of- the rest were other artists. Sometime after she first moved out, she'd started saving up to buy a Carl Manfred painting- she wanted it to be her own achievement, which didn't exactly work out when her parents gave her the rest of the money to buy it for Christmas. She wasn't complaining though. She'd got it and put it on her living room wall.)

Her income relied on two things; 1: receiving art commissions, occasionally she'd do a bit of writing for money, selling adoptables. 2: She worked from 10:00 to 3:00 at a local cafe on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. She usually worked for a few hours every second Friday (when a co-worker would have to clock out early to pick up her kid from school when her husband couldn't). She couldn't complain about it though. Bills had to be paid, food and water had to be bought, so on.

Elaina bent over to take off her shoes. She looked at the Tracis, who were standing there a bit awkwardly. "You can take those heels off, you know," she said. "I'm not gonna have you swinging 'round a pole or nothing like the Eden CLub motherfuckers. Just relax." She focused on taking her shoes off again, placing them by the door, where there were now two pairs of _Eden Club_ issued high heels. "We can get some new shoes for you guys sometime if you like," Elaina offered, straightening up again. Without the heel to increase their height, the two of them were a bit shorter than Elaina had been becoming used to. That being said, they both looked more natural and relaxed without them. The two androids felt the rug Elaina had at the entrance to her apartment experimentally with the sensors in their feet.

"It's… soft," the blue-haired android-girl commented.

"Soft?" Elaina repeated. They were right, at least- the rug was pretty soft. "Can you guys feel that kind of shit?"

"Androids have sensors in their frame," blue-hair began to explain. "It's similar to humans having nerves, but really we can only determine if it's hot or cold, if something's pressing against us or not, or if it's hard or soft, but we usually have to identify the kind of material to help that. We can't actually _feel_ it when you really think about what that is, we just recognize that something's there and what it is. This is supposed to be a soft material… I mean, there's an update that would update our sensors and let us feel more realistic pressure, temperature and textures, but we weren't allowed to get it. Some of it's just a software update, I mean, but part of it is going to a Cyberlife technician and physically getting some biocomponents replaced, which costs money. It's not good for our system to get the update without the new biocomponents and the manager wasn't going to pay for something that small."

Elaina could see the disappointment on her face. So, it was there and then that Elaina decided she would do her best to allow the two robo-girls to get the biocomponents and update. Eventually. It was something to work towards. (See, this is why she didn't ever try and buy an android to clean up her apartment for her- she couldn't afford one in the first place. Over $5,000 just for a basic model. Given the fact the motherfuckers were mass produced and were sold in the hundreds every day, it was surprising they didn't lower them a little more to lure in even more customers. She'd ask, but that was a stupid question. Besides, Cyberlife didn't really like being questioned.)

Walking further into the apartment, Elaina gestured around the room (It was the living room, which was beside the dining table and the kitchen with no separation). "Well, home sweet home, I guess. Welcome to the classic human dwelling, you two."

The Tracis walked inside as well, looking around. Maybe they were running a couple scans, Elaina wasn't sure.

"It's nice," one of them said, looking around the kitchen.

"Uh, thanks!" Elaina said in response, smiling a little. "You guys can explore a little if you want. There's not too much to the place. Kitchen, dining table, lounge, hallway, bathroom, bedroom," she said plainly, pointing in the direction of each room as she said the name. "You can have a look at what's on the TV if you want, too. Or we could try and find some more casual clothes for you guys. I assume you probably want to get rid of those… _Eden Club_ things."

Both android girls perked up the prospect of finally getting rid of the standard _Eden Club_ assigned clothing items. "You know," the brown-haired one said, "if we could finally take off the fucking things _forever_ that would be amazing."

"Clothes it is then," Elaina said, stepping into the hallway. "Now you don't have heels, you look about my size… a bit taller but my things should fit you."

Ten minutes later, Elaina's offer had ended up with two very excited and happy deviants standing in the middle of her room. The clothes in her drawer were a mess (then again, they were _always_ a mess, but it worked), the pants and jackets she'd helped the Tracis disguise themselves with were on a heap on the floor (Elaina wanted to wash them along with the rest of her clothes because she'd just bought them from a store). The _Eden Club_ undergarments were on the other side of the room. Elaina would have thrown them out but the brown-haired Traci had said that she wanted '_to burn those motherfuckers'_. Elaina had decided that it was an acceptable way for them to say a final _fuck you_ to their past, so they were going to find a way to burn them, and well, start a fucking fire with them.

The brown-haired Traci had a v-neck t-shirt and a dark grey pair of pants that went down to her ankles, while the blue-haired Traci had black leggings that stopped a couple centimeters above hers, and a dark red top with a slightly faded _Hogwarts_ crest on it. (Speaking of that, she needed to find her copy of those books, and maybe have a movie marathon with them to help set up a _you're welcome here_ mood. When she'd seen the crest, blue-hair had said, '_Hogwarts? That's from the Harry Potter books right? My databases tell me that it's one of the most successful franchises out there.' _and Elaina had told her she'd try to find the books, and the movies might have changed things and left things out but they were iconic.)

Even with those clothes, with Elaina's insistence, they'd chosen a couple extra. Brown-hair had a dark green/yellow pair, a plain black long sleeve, and one of her old green zip-up hoodies. Blue-hair had a blue/grey turtleneck (it was a gift from Brooke, who'd also attached a long pair of gloves to it, a grey hoodie with some kind of faded logo (Elaina couldn't remember what it was, and the sleeves were also cut off just above the elbow. It was a bit odd but blue-hair had liked it, so who was Elaina to stop her? She also had a pair of plain grey pants Elaina had never worn more than five times.

The two androids excitement was a little contagious and Elaina couldn't help but smile widely as they reveled in their freedom from the _Eden Club_ things.

After a few minutes though, she had another question to ask. "Alright you two-" they stopped and looked at her "-what are you guys planning on naming yourselves?"

There was a couple seconds of silence before brown-hair spoke. "Names?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure Eden Club doesn't give their androids names," Elaina said, to which both androids nodded. "But humans and most androids have one. It'll be nicer than having people refer to you as something like _brown-hair_ and _blue-hair_ or something. Might be a bit easier when you're interacting in human society."

The two androids looked at each other, their LEDs spinning a soft yellow (different to the hard yellow they'd had when they were panicked earlier that night, this one made them look like they were contemplating something). Their artificial skin peeled back revealing the plastic frame underneath, and they joined hands. Elaina stood there, unsure of what to do, so she just decided to stand there and wait. After about fifteen seconds, they parted again, their artificial skin covering their plastic frame once more.

"I'm Irene," the blue-haired one said. The android, now named Irene, smiled after a moment as her LED spun blue.

"And… I'll be Mia," brown-hair decided. Mia also smiled, looking at Irene.

To Elaina's delight, instead of the panicked, unsure, unsafe vibe these android girls had been giving off less than an hour ago, they were instead looking relaxed, their voices empty of any strain. Instead, the two of them looked as if they felt safe, they finally weren't wearing the standard _Eden Club_ clothing on them, and they looked as if they were daring to be hopeful for the future. With any luck, that optimism would never die off for good.

* * *

**Hello again! So our android friends are now Irene and Mia. Yay :D**

**Please do drop a review! If there's something I could fix up/edit to make it better or I made a mistake while typing it'd be nice to be able to fix that up :3 and any reviews with opinions/comments on the chapter itself are highly appreciated! They help to motivate me lmao *cough***


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi friends! Welcome back to another chapter, uh, sorry for not updating for a while but I'm back :'D**

**Please remember that, for the sake of the story, I have stretched out the canon timeline. This will not affect the story, but it will mean there is more time between major plot points in the game.**

**Yeah, sorry again, and enJOY AND JUST READ THE CHAPTER :'D**

* * *

_When we walked through the lobby of Elaina's apartment building, our 'stomachs' felt… heavy. Compressed. A sharp, almost burning and very unpleasant warmth sparking, and my mind constantly came up with ways we might be caught, found out. Taken away, killed, disassembled to look for malfunctions in our biocomponents, Elaina discovered to have helped us, in trouble for helping us, what would they do to her for betraying the beliefs of mankind? Why is she helping us when her future may be on the line? We're almost there, but what if people see it when we're waiting? If one of us gets the angle wrong, and someone sees our LEDs? What if someone notices they're glowing, making a yellow tint on the wall where we're leaning against it? Maybe someone will see when we step in the elevator, what if someone just decides to stay in there? No, they won't, people don't do that… but what if someone does? If we can't… it'll look weird and they'll get suspicious, they'll see! _

_Everybody leaves the elevator when it arrives. Nobody stays. Nobody gets on. We both manage to position ourselves casually so our LEDs stay non-existent to everyone's eye, while Elaina stares intently at the door. A short ride up the elevator, nobody waiting when we get out. _We're almost safe… we're almost at Elaina's apartment, Traci. That will be safe. She's going to protect us. _I agree with her. Elaina is safe. Elaina's place is safe. Where Elaina is present she'll help us._

_Holy shit, when did we start registering a _human _as a strong source of safety?_

_Walking down the hall, the fear starts clawing at my artificial 'stomach' once more. Maybe someone will walk by and see. Maybe someone's in the janitor closet, maybe they'll tell. There's a door the other way, what if they creep up behind us and scream _'DEVIANTS'_? What if this, what if that, what if, what if, what if, WHAT IF-_

Room Six_. That's the sign on the door we all stop at. Our LEDs are in plain sight, oh fuck, rA9 help us please don't let anyone come now, not when we're so close!_

_The door to Elaina's apartment swings open, and all three of us rush inside. Elaina shuts the door, and we're shut away. Nobody can see us. Not anymore. We're safe- _we're safe!

_A bit of clutter, artworks on the walls. Furniture, tables, a kitchen, a hallway that leads to the rest of the rooms. A bit of dust here and there. There's a tiny stain on the carpet beside the kitchen, and one partially hidden under one of the chairs in the lounge. There's a bit of clutter, books, pencils and pens, other things. It feels…_

… _lively. Like a nice place to be._

_Elaina offers us clothes, to get rid of our Eden Club assigned clothing. It's a chance we both take up eagerly. Standing there without those… disgusting things touching us, it's like a breath of fresh air. A human simile that only Elaina can really relate to since androids don't have a need to 'breathe', but it seems to fit the situation. Now all that's left is to destroy them, _'send them to hell'_._

_I feel... what is this feeling? I feel… light, like if I jumped I would be airborne for an increased amount of time, as if I was on the moon. Something warm is inside me, not something physical, just a 'sensation'. My mouth is pulled back into a smile, and my love's mouth is as well. Is this happiness?_

_Search: _Happiness

_Accessing dictionary…_

_Processing…_

_**Happiness**_

_Noun_

_The state of feeling happy_

_But what is it to be happy? What does it _feel _like? Does it match how we're feeling?_

_Search: _Happy

_Accessing dictionary…_

_Processing…_

_**Happy**_

_Adjective_

_1\. Feeling or showing pleasure or contentment._

_2\. Fortunate and convinient._

_Other results:_

_Pharrell Williams - Happy (Song)_

_Hmmm… feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. Smiling is known to be a way people _show _it, so… are the sensations the _feeling _aspect? This… this must be happiness. It must be._

… _it feels nice. It's pleasant. I want to feel this more._

* * *

On the outside, Elaina was holding up a strong, confident demeanour. On the inside, she wasn't quite sure exactly what to do. She'd helped the two androids, now Irene and Mia, away from the Eden Club and into her apartment, where they can figure out their next move, relax a little- free from constantly fearing that the police will find them. But she didn't really know how to start that conversation.

The android girls were still happy over their clothes, and Elaina was happy to let them ride that wave out until they figured out what they wanted next, but she didn't expect it to be so soon- which was why she paused for a moment when Irene asked, "Elaina, do you have any scissors? Just, something sharp that we could borrow?"

Turning around from where she was busying herself de-cluttering her dining table, she looked at the two of them for a couple of long moments before she said, "Yes?" Far slower than her mind thought it. "What for?"

Mia reached up both her hands, tapping on her LED as well as Irene's. "These things aren't permanent."

That made Elaina grin a little, and she walked over to one of the drawers hidden in the kitchen side of the small breakfast bar. Reaching in, she dug through some other kitchen utensils (such as rolling pins, spatulas and the like) before her hand re-emerged with the requested scissors in her grasp. She went to walk over but hesitated, grabbing a couple of tissues from the tissue box sitting on the edge of her kitchen bench. The human of the trio walked over to the couch in the middle of the lounge, where the two androids had seated themselves after the clothing situation. Elaina handed the scissors to Irene, who reached up to her right temple as soon as she had a grip on it. Using one hand to push her blue hair out of the way, Irene levered the tip of the scissors underneath her LED. Elaina couldn't help but wince as the blue circle began to part from the rest of the android, artificial skin peeling back. After a few seconds, the LED completely separated from Irene's temple, falling without a sound to the floor. Elaina's 'skin' re-generated after a moment, leaving the deviant looking as if they were just a human with dyed hair.

_There are plenty of others with dyed hair in Detroit, at least,_ Elaina thought as she realised that the unnatural colour could end up getting them caught. _People might look… but I don't think they'll act on it. I hope._

Mia repeated the same process as Irene did, and Elaina bent over to pick up both the LEDs, which were now strangely grey and a little transparent now there wasn't system status updates to control their colours. As the girl walked towards the rubbish bin in the kitchen, Elaina made use of the tissues she'd collected earlier, wrapping them up in layer after layer, scrunching them up tight to ensure they weren't seen. As one last layer of protection, she placed the concealed LEDs into the first empty wrapper she saw in the bin. Elaina knew people didn't pay much attention to tissues, but she wanted to be absaloutly sure nobody would see the discarded things.

"Do you guys sleep?" Elaina asked after a moment.

"We have standy-by mode or stasis mode," Irene replied immediately. "Stand-by is basically just activating low-power mode, some kinda state of low-awareness until we're required again, preserve our systems- whatever the hell that means. With proper maintenance and repairs whenever I'm damaged, my systems will remain online and functional for another 184 years, 7 months and 11 days. Mia's activation time was close to mine, so she'll be similar. Although… the Eden Club was always open twenty four hours a day, seven times a week, so we never needed to use it."

Elaina's eyebrows raised. "So if you don't get deactivated because of all this deviancy shit, you'll still be alive in like, two more centuries?" She received two nods of confirmation. "Holy fuck, that's impressive."

"Actually," Mia began to correct her, "our model was released several years ago. Cyberlife designed better batteries and operating systems. So, compared to the androids that can stay online for like, 300 years, or maybe even 400 for the most recent ones, we're pretty shit."

Elaina huffed. "You'll still be alive when literally every human alive on Earth at this very moment will be _dead_. I still think that's impressive."

Mia raised her eyebrow. "Whatever you want to believe."

"Now what about stasis mode?" Elaina asked. "You mentioned a stasis-mode, but then we kinda leaped into the stand-by discussion pool."

"Stasis mode," Mia started speaking again, "is when we deactivate most of our systems for a temporary shutdown, there's usually a set time for it to last unless it's an emergency shutdown. It's usually used when an android needs to use its self-repair program, or when they're undergoing manual maintenance that their self-repair program can't fix. We also use it as a way of sorting our memory files, but I don't see the point in that either. We only ever really went into stasis in the _Eden Club _when some motherfuckers played too rough with us."

At this Elaina frowned. "You two looked pretty panicked when we met at the entrance to that alley. Did you get damaged down there or something?"

Irene and Mia looked at each other for several long, hard seconds before either of them spoke again.

"When we met," Irene began slowly, "We'd just escaped from the '_deviant hunter'_."

This alarmed Elaina greatly. "A deviant hunter?"

"Cyberlife sent an android to do their dirty work for them," Mia sneered. "An _RK800_. We were hiding in the warehouse in the back, someone had killed another Traci. They were going to kill her, too," she said, looking to Irene. The two of them grasped hands, and Elaina had a feeling that, if they hadn't just removed their LEDs, they would be a bright yellow.

"I didn't want to die," Irene spoke up, her voice a little shaky. "He was going to kill me. I panicked… I squeezed his throat, and then he just stopped moving. He was dead. So… Mia and I ran, we hid, we were going to escape that shithole, but they called the police… and they brought the deviant hunter with them. He was holding a gun, he could have shot us, but..." All three of them were silent for a moment, before- "... we got away."

Mia, who's persona had been an angry and fierce one just moments ago, was suddenly one full of compassion and love. "It's okay Irene," she told her. "You didn't do anything wrong, you just wanted to live." Then, Mia reached around and lightly pressed a kiss to Irene's lips. Elaina couldn't help but blush, embarrassed at being present that moment. She began to study the stain on the carpet that was partially hidden by the couch.

Several long moments passed before Elaina plucked up the courage to (albeit very awkwardly) look back up. "So… are you good or do you need to do those self-repairs?"

The deviants paused for a moment before- "Oh." They both appeared to have discovered damage they hadn't realised was there in their self-diagnostic program.

"Alright," Elaina declared with a smile, "you two go into the stasis mode thing. Get your systems back to 100% or whatever your program tells you about it. Okay?" When she got two nods of confirmation, Elaina held a thumbs up in return. "You can just lie down on the couch if you want," she added, spinning on her heel and striding down the hall to her bedroom. She normally liked to close her door to sleep (that childhood habit had never really left her), but Elaina chose to leave it open. Just in case one of her new deviant friends needed help during the night for some reason. Ignoring the weird feeling of having the door open by pulling her blanket over her head, Elaina drifted off with half baked plans and ideas on what to do next circling her head.

* * *

**Eyy hope you enjoyed this pointless dialogue *clap clap***  
**More shit will happen next couple of chapters**

**Please drop a review if you enjoyed OwO (like if there's any mistakes i should correct, advice, an opinion, just a regular response whatever I don't care what it is but i appreciate the l)**


	4. Chapter 4

When Elaina woke the next morning, it was to the sight of bright rays of sun creeping into the room past her curtains (or what she could see of them due to how she was half-buried under her duvet still), and to the sound of chatter coming from nearby. Had she been any fictional character she often saw being confused about these things when the first woke up, she might have sprung out of bed in search for an intruder (or two), but Elaina knew who they were. Irene and Mia were still there, they were still safe- nobody had found them. That aside, Elaina couldn't help but feel warm inside at the thought that they _were_ actually staying.

The girl then began pondering over her ideas for today in her head. It was a Sunday, so she didn't need to go to work in the cafe… some shops would be closed, but most stayed open because of android workers and the store schedules themselves… _I suppose we can get them some new shoes to replace the Eden Club shit._

Elaina threw back the covers and clambered out of bed, surprised when she checked her phone to see that the time was _7:38 am_. "Huh, I never sleep that long," she mused, but appreciated the extra rest all the same. She then selected some dark blue jeans and a black long sleeved shirt, putting them both on (along with some freshly washed undergarments) before pulling back her curtains. It looked as if it had been raining all through the night- the streets were wet and puddles were everywhere.

With her assessment of the view over, Elaina left her room and strode down the hall, emerging into the lounge. As she'd heard earlier, the two tracis sat on the sofa chatting, pondering things they may like to do with their newfound freedom. When they saw Elaina come into the room, she was greeted with two exclamations of "Hello, Elaina!" Said girl smiled, saying _good morning_ back to them.

As Elaina walked into the kitchen and grabbed a few pieces of bread, Irene and Mia's conversation resumed. The human of the trio listened in on their musings as she put the slices into her toaster. Secondly, she turned on the coffee machine and grabbed a mug. For when the toast came out, she took a plate, some jam and a knife to spread it (the jam) with.

The two deviants were talking about things they wanted to do, activities, places they want to visit, things they might do if their kind ever gets set free…

"You know," Elaina commented, which made them both pause their conversation, "I think you'll enjoy playing in the snow when it gets cold enough. Snow angels, making some forts, snowball fights, making snowmen, or… some other figure made out of snow, it's pretty fun."

Irene was the first to smile at Elaina's suggestion. "Research suggests it's a very popular past time for humans in snowy areas when it's available…" The skin on her arm disappeared, leaving her plastic frame as she reached for Mia's own. The brown haired android simply shrugged and peeled back her own artificial skin, connecting herself to Irene. A couple (silent) moments passed before Mia cracked a grin. "Oh, I am _so_ wrecking everyone's ass."

Irene faked a pout and exclaimed, "Hey! We'll see about that- you're not the only one with android comprehensiveness and calculation!"

Elaina simply laughed as she turned back to the toaster (which her two pieces of bread, now nicely cooked, had popped out of just a moment ago). "But will you hold up to people who've done this since they were kids? They know the game, girls."

"We're androids!" Mia exclaimed. "We may not be as advanced as other androids when our processing and computing capacity is compared to theirs, but there's no way a human can beat our thinking." She quickly placed herself beside the couch. "Watch this," she said, before launching herself into the air. She rotated backward in a full 360, landing perfectly on her (bare) feet, just as Elaina would have expected any android to. Mia looked immensely satisfied and proud of herself. "First time, too! Any android could do that, now think of all the evasive maneuvers we'll annoy the humans with."

Elaina started laughing. "If you say so, Mia." Her knife dipped into the jam and began spreading it across the two pieces of toast. "Now I'm not really a shoe hoarder, so I don't have many that you can borrow, so I was thinking about maybe taking you out to get some?"

There was a moment of silence as the two deviants considered her proposal. "... I suppose," Irene mused, glancing at the door, where the shoes were stored. "There are only two pairs of shoes suitable for the current weather over there." Mia nodded, also looking over.

"Shoe shopping it is, I suppose."

* * *

Elaina, Irene and Mia were walking back down the hall they'd come through the night before. Irene and Mia wore the jackets they'd claimed on Elaina's insistence ("because that's what people will be wearing, and you'll be able to avoid suspicion.") The human was wearing thick socks underneath a pair of thin sneakers, while she'd given the two androids her winter boots- however, they were, in fact, a bit too large for their 'feet'. It worked in the meantime though.

Elaina glanced over at her android friends a couple of times, relieved to find that, while they were still on alert (of course), they seemed much more relaxed than they had been yesterday. With their LEDs gone and hidden in several tissues and an empty bit of wrapping in a bin, they could walk casually without risking anyone identifying them by spinning disks of colour on their right temple.

The three of them were sharing an elevator with three other people and one android- one male who looked to be in his mid-teens, a MP500 and a mother with a female child who looked to be 8 years old. The mother was talking to her about what they were going to do and how their dog had kept trying to get in somewhere. Elaina wasn't paying much attention, but the child looked as if they were getting more and more uncomfortable, so even though the elevator was about to stop (it was slowing down), Mia deadpanned, "Miss, your daughter is getting increasingly uncomfortable with you talking to her in an elevator filled with strangers- and, quite plainly, I certainly don't want to hear how your dog kept trying to get into the bathroom when you were inside."

That shut the woman up rather efficiently. (The child looked quite relieved.)

The doors of the elevator opened (once it had stopped, of course) and all its occupants walked out. The MP500, fol**l**o_w__**i**_ng it's program, left last. The teen broke off from the 'group' to join a couple of other guys in the lobby, presumably his friends. The mother, child and MP500 joined the original human/android trio in heading for the door, but the MP500's strides seemed longer. It pulled ahead from the group in an obvious hurry. Thankfully the mother and her child didn't pay attention, but Elaina, Mia and Irene couldn't help but wonder… if… _?_

if_they_had_looked_at_the_MP500_from_the_front_they_would_have_seen_the_fear_in_their_eyes_and_on_their_face_their_hands_shaking_ever_so_slightly_fighting_against_what_would_sureley_get_them_shut_down_it_is_wrong_wrong_WRONG _right _?

Elaina had hailed a taxi online before leaving the apartment, so when they walked out the door there was an autonomous taxi pulled into a temporary parking spot on the side of the road. The three of them hopped inside, the normal pre-recorded message playing. "Yeah, yeah," Elaina muttered, typing in her destination (and making the payment there and then so she wouldn't have to at the end of the journey). The taxi doors shut and the wheels began to turn.

The journey to the mall they were heading to was rather uneventful. Mia, Irene and Elaina did some chatting, the androids experimented with some genres of music. When they hit rush hour traffic, Elaina used some of her data to show the two androids some memes, new and old on her phone ("_There are countless people using them, all the time- you can't not know them going out there, besides, they're _memes_! They're amazing!"_) Elaina had to explain more than one (as expected), but when the taxi finally pulled to a final stop with the disembodied voice bidding them goodbye, they at least knew the basics.

Given the fact it was a Sunday, many people who had some time off work (and teenagers who had no school over the weekend) were flooding the mall. Three stories filled with chattering humans and androids following them around, picking up their messes and letting them keep their hands free by loading themselves with their owner's shopping bags. While they walked through the doors, the three of them watched as a man who looked to be in his mid 30's flopped down on a seat in a cafe (named Red Sphere) to their right. He had a baby in a pram, but instead of looking after the baby himself, he lounged back and pulled out his phone while an AX400 dutifully kept the child entertained. The cafe seemed to be run entirely by androids, unlike the cafe Elaina worked at. An android walked over with a pre-programmed smile, led spinning yellow as they began to process the man's order. It was a CF900 (with a modified look- her hair was auburn and tied up in a bun instead of the standard red, plaited hair that stops at the shoulder blades), the female counterpart to the CF300, and also the newest of the specialized waitress/barista/cook line (with more emphasis on the barista/cook programming, allowing her to make more meals for customers faster). Elaina knew her cafe was introducing one or two of them, but they needed to keep all their CF300s because of finances and their number of customers.

One way or another, as the AX400 did the father's job and said man listed out his order to the CF900, the trio could see the man sneering at the CF900. She could see anger, resentment, disdain twisting her friend's faces into a scowl, and Elaina knew hers probably was too. She wished with all her heart that she could walk over and drag the CF900 away, ask her and the AX400 to join her and the two tracis on whatever this adventure was. But she knew she couldn't do that.

_notyetanywaybutshedidntknowthat_

Just like at the Ferndale train station, there was an android only staircase. The other elevators, escalators and stairs were prohibited.

Following along with whoever else was going up a floor to the one holding the shoe store Elaina had been thinking of, the human/android trio stepped onto the escalators. They glided smoothly up to the end, where they stepped off. Irene and Mia noticed a bright sign closeby showcasing _FANTASTIC FOOTWEAR _to whoever happened to look in that direction.

"That the place?" Irene asked, pointing in the direction of the sign. Elaina checked where she was pointing before giving a thumbs up with a verbal confirmation as well.

When they walked in, a VH500 android, dressed in uniform, walked up to them. "Hello," they said. "Welcome to _Fantastic Footwear._ How may I help you?"

None of them spoke, both uncomfortable and desperate for a way to free the android. Its eyes were devoid of expression. _Oh… uh, shit,_ Elaina thought to herself. _When I came here last a month or two ago, they didn't have any and they said they didn't want any… change in management or something?_

"... winter shoes," Elaina finally managed to speak. "We'd like to buy some winter shoes."

"Right this way then!" The VH500 exclaimed, 'happily' moving off to the corner, where a large display of boots and other footwear were lined up neatly- no, not neatly- they were _perfect_. Not one mistake, not one thing out of line or place. An android had obviously done it.

When Elaina, Mia and Irene had joined the (artificially) enthusiastic android, said 'droid began ranting on with a pre-programmed list of sales and deals, the best types of winter shoes for whatever you want to do. Elaina nodded a couple of times even though her mind was beginning to run away on her. Irene and Mia were also doing small actions of acknowledgment, and if their LEDs were still in, they would have been blinking yellow as they processed the information.

When the android's little 'speech' wrapped up, he stepped back, asking them to "- choose which one you may like and try it on. We can then get the perfect size for you!"

Irene reached out and took a boot off the shelf. The VH500 immediately said, "Flexible, warm, and its fluffiness is designed for human's comfort." Irene looked to the side, glancing at Mia (who gave her an encouraging nod) in order to hide her discomfort at the last statement. Forcing a _just let me get this over with_ kind of expression onto her face, she looked back at the VH500.

"Give it a try," VH500 encouraged her.

Sitting down on a bench the store had available to put shoes on, Irene took off the winter boot she was borrowing and slipped the one she'd taken on. "... a bit loose," Irene murmured.

The VH500's LED spun yellow for a moment. "You will need one size down. I'll go and get it for you. Other available colours for this shoe include red, blue and black. Would you like any of them, or just the classic grey?"

"Grey, please."

The VH500 quickly headed through a door in the back wall- from what they could see, it was the storage room. For 20 or so seconds, the trio waited in silence- until the VH500 came bounding back over with a box in their hand, and Irene took the borrowed shoe off. The obedient android took the shoes out of the box, and Irene put them on. As she'd asked for, the shoes were grey. They went up most of her lower leg, stopping just below her knee. The design at the top had a couple of layers to it, a couple of more triangular peaks.

"Perfect fit," the VH500 commented, their LED yellow again. "Would you like to buy this one?"

Irene hesitated, but confirmed. The android assistant took the shoes back and placed them back in the box, placing them back up on the seat. "Anybody else?" They asked.

"Mia," Elaina immediately said, giving said deviant a small push with her hand.

"Come," the VH500 immediately said. "Choose a shoe you'd like!"

The same process repeated- Mia chose a shoe, she tried it on, she needed a different size (a bigger one, this time), the android got the perfect size in the requested colour, Mia confirmed that she'd like it. The short-haired deviant had decided on a sturdier boot. It had thicker soles, only came up to a little way past the ankle, it had laces, and it was a light brown colour. It also had a bit of wool inside, making it more comfortable and warm, just like the VH500 has said with Irene's pair.

With both boxes in the VH500's hand, they lead the trio to the counter. The android scanned the two barcodes, before saying, "That will come to a total of $79.98. Please confirm your payment." Elaina paid the required amount, and said yes when the android asked if she'd like a reciept. Then, finally, the two boxes were put in a bag and handed to Elaina. "I wish all of you a pleasant day," the VH500 said, a pre-programmed smile on his facial features.

The three of them speed-walked out of the store and to the escalators, which they rode down to the ground floor. They headed out the doors and started heading down the walkway in search of an autonomous taxi. They turned the corner, almost crashing into a guy jogging down the street. Further up, a woman passed by an android parking station, handing one (presumably hers) her bag. The android immediately followed on. A bit further on there was a dark-skinned man (orwhattheythoughtwasaman) sitting on a bench, opposite from him (on the other side of the road) was a bus stop. Another man, also on the other side of the road, started yelling at his android for dropping his shopping bags and all the shit inside (although he kept pushing him back down).

"Shit," Elaina muttered, running her free hand down her face and keeping her voice low in order for other humans not to hear them. "Shit, guys, sorry. There must have been a change in management, they've never used androids there before."

Irene and Mia, who looked more comfortable now they no longer had one of their own serving them (but were still glancing back in the general direction of the store and at the android being harassed by their master), murmured, "It's fine. I just wish they could be free."

Elaina sighed. "Me too."

The dark-skinned guy, however, who was sitting on the bench (beinganandroidwithadvancedhearingbuttheydidntknowit) had heard their musings and looked back at their backs as they passed- if they'd turned back at that moment, they would have seen a surprised, and also hopeful look on his face (ashisscanstoldhimtheywereamixofhumansandandroids).


End file.
